Smith



IUNrTEn STATES PATENT OFFICE.

BYRON BENJAMIN GOLDSMITH, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

ORNAMENTAL VARNISHING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 506,394, dated October10, 1893. Application filed May Z1893. Serial No. 472,769. (Nospecimens) T0 on whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, BYRON BENJAMIN GOLD- SMITH, a citizen of the UnitedStates, and a resident of New York,in the county and State of New York,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in OrnamentalVarnishing, of which the following is a specification.

My invention has reference to improvements in the process of ornamentingsurfaces by varnishing, the object being to produce upon any givensurface an imitation of marble, malachite, jasper and other likeornamental stones, or an imitation of costly Woods, antique ivory orother materials havingvariegated veins, and to do this in a purelymechanical manner, not requiring the skill and judgment of an artist.

The principle which underlies my invention is the following; If two ormore coats of different colors are superposed upon each other, withoutallowing the coats to dry sensibly; and it while the coats are still inthe condition in which they will flow spontaneously, the article isgiven any kind of motion, the coats of colorrwill flow upon the articlewith different speeds and in various directions, producing a greatnumber of sluggish currents, which interfere with and react upon eachother. The result of this is that the two or more colors will slightlyblend along the edges of the various currents, while the main bodies ofthese currents will blend only slightly or not at all. The effect ofthis is the formation upon the surface of the articleof deviouslines ofgreatly variegated appearance both as to form and color, the totaleffect being similar to that of the surface of a richly veinedornamental material, such as marble, malachite, agate, jasper, onyx,wood, ivory, &c., according to the colors employed.

My process is applicable tothe ornamentation of all kinds of objectsmade of any material that is ordinarily varnished or painted or can bevarnished or painted, but the in vention is particularly adapted toarticles having plane or evenly curved surfaces, such as table tops,walking sticks, pen holders, and

to such article. stood, that in the practice of my invention I am notcon fined to the use of any particular paint or varnish, and while inthe following description I shall use the term varnish as designatingthe vehicle for carrying or adapted to carry the desired pigment or dye,

I mean to cover by this term all vehicles that ored varnishes upon thepen holder, and each layer in a condition in which it will still flowspontaneously. While in this condition the pen holder is secured in ahorizontal or angular position in a lathe chuck and is slowly rotated.Immediately the two varnishes flow upon the surface of the holder andupon each I other, forming a great number of currents of differentspeeds and directions, which, inter-' fering with and reacting upon eachother,

cause an accumulation of green and of white varnish in variegated lines,which blend at their edges, but do not blend in a like degree, I v

or not at all, within their edges. The efiect thus produced is as statedabove, that of p I also desire it to be underrichlyveined and highlypolished malachite.

The'movement of the pen holder is continued until the varnishes havedried sufficiently not to flow spontaneously, and the article is then ti removed from the chuck and is dried in the usual manner.

duce a like effect, although the effect is varied with the variation ofthe motion.

a highly ornamental effect is produced by slowly inclining the object atdifferent an- If rotated, the effect varies with the angle at which thestick is gles, without rotating.

It is not necessary that the pen holder or like object be given a rotarymotion, since any kind of motion that will allow or cause the varnishesto flow, will pro- Thus, in the case of pen holders or walking sticks, L

inclined while being rotated. hen the stick is secured in and rotated bya lathe chuck, the etfect varies with the angle formed between the axisof the chuck and of the stick. But whatever the nature of the movementgiven to the article may be, the efiect produced is similar to thatdescribed.

The process of producing the effect of malachite may be slightly variedby first producing a green varnish upon the pen holder and allowing thesame to dry, then dipping it into a transparent varnish, which maybetinted or colorless, and then immediately into a white varnish, and thengiving to the article the requisite motion. In this case the veins areformed by the various interfering currents of the white and thetransparent varnishes, the latter permitting the green base to shinethrough. A similar effect is produced by dipping the pen holder stickinto the varnishes with the point foremost, and then simply reversingthe stick vertically, so that the varnishes will flow toward the thickend. From these few examples, it Will be seen that the i variations ormodifications to which the process is susceptible, are very numerous,but that the fundamental idea is always the same. WVhatever the articlemay be, the process will be practically the same; thus walking sticks orumbrella sticks, or other cylindrical objects may be manipulatedprecisely like that to each kind of movement or rotation of the articlecorrespond different forms of veins and different distributions of theveins, which are produced.

Any number of differently colored varnishes may be used, and with eachdifferent colors or different numbers of colors, the effect producedwill be different. After the varnishes have dried, the article may betreated like other varnished articles for heightening the gloss, that isto say, they may be burnished and an additional coat or coats ofcolorless varnish may be applied.

Having now fully described my invention, I claim and desire to secure byLetters Patent 1. The process of ornamen ting articles, which consistsin covering the whole surface of the same with superimposed layers ofvarnishes of such consistency that they may still flow spontaneously,andthen so placing or movingthe said article, that by their spontaneousflow the different varnishes are broken up into lines of variegatedforms andshades, substantially as described.

2. The process of producing imitations of variegated veins upon anarticle, which consists in first covering the whole surface-of the samewith superimposed layers ofspontaneously flowing varnishes of differentcolors,and

